Former Royal Engineer turned kit manager talks about his 'dream role' with Leicester Tigers
After enjoying a 30-year career with the Royal Engineers, both full time and as a reservist, former Staff Sergeant Jamie Doig is nowadays found organising the kit for Premiership Rugby giants Leicester Tigers.
With years of loyalty and experience in the backroom of the Army rugby team, Doig now juggles the task of managing green, red, and white kit for the Leicester Tigers on a weekly basis.
After an injury cut his rugby league career short, Doig told Forces News that he turned to management after a doctor suggested it as a way to remain within the sport.
He said: "It was something that I had never thought of, probably never even dreamed of, but it has taken me back into that sporting environment and definitely keeping involved with good friends that you've joined the Army with."
How Doig ended up looking after the players' kits is down to his relationship with former Army rugby union Head Coach Andy Sanger, who he credits for bringing him on board.
He said: "Darren Percy, who was the kit man at the time, had got a liaison role with Uruguay during the Rugby World Cup during the England campaign, which left a void in the Army set-up for the IDRC [International Defence Rugby Competition] in 2015.
"Luckily enough, Andy had asked me to come on board.
"If you look at the military ethos and the hard work and the commitment, the trust and the loyalty, it all has that role whether you are in the military, whether you come into the sporting environment as I have, or into any walk of life, you have got to be trusted, you have got to be loyal to the people that you are with.
"There's a certain amount of 'you just get on and do it'."
A week before the Army v Navy clash at Twickenham, the Tigers met the Harlequins on their home turf at Mattioli Woods Welford Road for their final game of the league season, where he had the chance to catch up with Andy.
"We have our monthly catch up," he jokes. "As Andy always is, he's straight down the line and somebody that I respect really, really well.
"He mentored me, he gave me my opportunity at Harlequins while I was also doing resettlement, so I spent six months with Harlequins before I came up to Leicester and worked with the academy.
"So, there will be some rivalries but at the end of the day it is a game, we'll shake hands at the end and then we will wait until next season to review that rivalry.
As Doig now looks to the future with his role with the Leicester Tigers, he never forgets the people who helped him to get to where he is today.
"My thanks go out to the people that have supported me throughout my Army career and more importantly, the ones that have followed me after life in the civil sector.
"There have been boys that have covered me while I have been on Army camps and tours, they are the ones that have enabled me to be able to do what I am doing today."
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